Meeting of the Parliament 04 March 2025
I am coming to a close.
In bringing my speech to a close, I want to reflect on the decision that is before us, which is whether to spend huge sums of money on nuclear, which will not reduce consumer bills and will leave us with an environmental hazard extending thousands of years into the future, or to continue to invest in renewables and Scotland’s future.
There is a unique opportunity at stake. We have an opportunity to reach our climate goals, provide cost-competitive energy security and grow our economy through the deployment of renewables and associated infrastructure. I repeat: renewable energy is safer, cheaper and faster to deploy, and creates more jobs than nuclear generation.
Therefore, I ask Parliament to reject the creation of new nuclear power plants in Scotland and the risks that they bring, and to agree that Scotland’s future is as a renewables powerhouse that benefits the people of Scotland.
I move,
That the Parliament rejects the creation of new nuclear power plants in Scotland and the risk that they bring; believes that Scotland’s future is as a renewables powerhouse; further believes that the expansion of renewables should have a positive impact on household energy bills; notes the challenges and dangers of producing and managing hazardous radioactive nuclear waste products, and the potentially catastrophic consequences of the failure of a nuclear power plant; recognises that the development and operation of renewable power generation is faster, cheaper and safer than that of nuclear power, and welcomes that renewables would deliver higher employment than nuclear power for the development and production of equivalent levels of generated power.